Shelby
Flint (born September 17, 1939 in North Hollywood, California) is an American
singer-songwriter and musician. A pure and velvety soprano, she stood out among
her early ‘60s
contemporaries in that she imbued her work with a tender
emotional aesthetic and ground breaking lyrical maturity, inspiring a generation
of female musicians. Flint has recorded and written music in genres ranging
from pop and folk, to disco and jazz. She recorded two notable hit singles —
“Angel on My Shoulder” (1961) and “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” (1966) — both of
which reached the Hot 100 in the United States.
Flint began learning to play the piano and
acoustic guitar at the age of six; Shelby’s family background was deeply rooted
in the Southern mountains of America, and throughout her childhood she was
exposed to this music. While attending high school, Flint played guitar and
sang for her friends, further encouraging her to perform for school assemblies,
as well as church and civic programs. She attended public schools in Van Nuys
California including Valerio Street Elementary, Robert Fulton Jr High and
Birmingham High School where she graduated from in 1957. She wrote many songs
during this period, among them “Angel on My Shoulder” which would in a few
years become a pop standard
In 1958, she recorded a single for Cadence
Records, “I Will Love You” (b/w “Oh, I Miss Him So”) with The Jordanaires as
vocal backing, though it did not materialize into a recording contract. Her
original recording of “Angel on My Shoulder” was released on Valiant in 1960;
it is reputed that Barry De Vorzon’s (with whom Flint would co-write several
songs) singular reason for starting the label was to have the opportunity to
commit Flint’s music to record. Her eponymous debut album was released in 1961;
at the end of the year, “Angel on My Shoulder” was listed in the Variety Tune
Index of Performance and Sales.
Flint’s
next album was Shelby Flint Sings Folk (1962), in which she paid homage to the
folk songs she had grown up with, such as “The Ash Grove”, “Black Is the
Color”, and “House of the Rising Sun”. It was around this time Flint made the
conscientious decision to prioritize family over an active career in music,
limiting her potential for nationwide, possibly even worldwide, exposure.
Throughout the 1960s, she released a series of well-regarded singles on
Valiant, her popularity culminating with the release of Cast Your Fate to the
Wind (1966) and its accompanying single.
With
a modestly resuscitated career, Flint recorded the disco/jazz funk album Don’t
Stop the Music (1979), a collaboration with relative Ian Jack. The album was
released in the twilight hour of the disco genre’s popularity, and failed to
achieve critical acclaim. Then, in the ’80s, Flint gathered a jazz group
consisting of Bill Bodine, Gregg Karukas, Jerry Peterson, Denny Seiwell, and
Jerry Steinholtz. The Shelby Flint Group became one of the most popular ’80s
L.A. jazz groups, releasing the 1982 live LP You’ve Been on My Mind which was
adored by critics. The group split after a final performance at the Monterey
Pop Festival.
Throughout the late ’80s and ’90s, Flint made
guest vocal appearances on well-regarded jazz records by artists such as Chick
Corea, Mike Garson, and Tim Weston. In 1994, Flint appeared on Gregg Karukas’
holiday offering Home for the Holidays, reinterpreting holiday classics and
singing her own compositions. She also makes sporadic live performances as a
solo artist, as well as being a member of the a capella group Inner Voices.
In 2012, the Shelby Flint Group reunited,
planning the 2012/13 release of Yesterdays (formerly known as The Oceanway
Tapes), a follow-up to You’ve Been on My Mind which was not released at the
time. The album has been re-recorded for the occasion, and will also coincide
with the re-release of the group’s first album, which has been out of print for
some time.
Scores of female artists have cited Flint as
an artistic influence, among them Karen Carpenter, Joni Mitchell, and Maureen
McGovern. Notably, when starting out, Mitchell was intentionally copying Flint’s
act.
Flint's
most personal work has been in collaboration with Producer/Guitarist Tim
Weston. Their 1992 Jazz album Providence features tracks such as "The Lady Weeps,"
a sweetly passionate cry for the end of racial tension in Los Angeles.
Interestingly, Lady incorporates a paraphrasing of Flint's earliest work Angel
On My Shoulder in the lines "Angels we have heard, angels we have
known." The angels in this instance refer to victims of hate crimes.
Shelby
Flint is still at it decades later, performing live, writing and recording,
often in collaboration with guitarist Tim Weston (the son of singer Jo Stafford
and bandleader Paul Weston) and jazz keyboard player Greg Karukas.
Truly
this musical icon has become the angel on contemporary music's shoulder.(Info
edited mainly from last.fm)
2 comments:
For Shelby’s album “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” go here:
http://uptobox.com/p205bxol3pzy
Such a find for me!! What an amazing,natural voice and interpretive style. Why she is not a universally known,one of the greats,singers, i just don't understand. Still, she made some great music and I now play it all the time.Difficult to find her albums on cd though - so I rely on Spotify!
Thanks, Shelby, for the pleasure you continue to give me!
Pete
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